Tag Archives: Thambi Ramaiah

‘Vanamagan’ is the story of a man who comes from jungle into city, who is unaware of civilization or technology. Director A.LVijay has tried to make a film on how we humans have been digging our own graves by exploiting and destroying all natural resources in the name of urbanization and rapid development.

Despite putting aside the issues of plagiarism and references from Hollywood films, Vijay has not been successful in delivering a completely engaging entertainer. The idea of making such a film is interesting, but the film has been so ordinary as a script and in terms making.

The initial 40 minutes of the film was enjoyable to an extent, due to the fresh plot and the scenes that show how Jayam Ravi’s character gets adapted to the urban environment. But, once the film takes a turn as a love movie, it does look very artificial. While we are not convinced about the reason for Sayyeshaa to keep Jayam Ravi with her in her house actually, it is even more unpersuasive for us to see her falling in love with him. The film does not have any strong scenes that could make the spoilt rich girl loving a tribal man appealing or believable. The abrupt placement of romance songs like ‘Yemma Yea Azhagamma’ and ‘Pachchai Uduthiya Kaadu’ were also acting as big speed breakers.

The second half which unfolds the flashback of Jayam Ravi and the search for his tribe gets sluggish halfway. The screenplay post interval does falter a lot making us wonder if this film would progress ahead or not, testing our patience to some extent. The impact of the flashback is also very less. The CG work in some pivotal scenes such as where Jayam Ravi saves Sayyeshaa falling from a cliff was poorly done (though the graphics was good in a few other scenes). The action scenes have been made in a clichéd template, where none of the Police or Commandos does even make the right aim on the target at-least for once. Another issue with Vanamagan is that few messages that are told in the film gets overdone and looks preachy & dramatic over a point of time, such as the ‘AC room and window’ comparison, human’s addiction towards technology and how mobile phones have separated us from our loved ones mentally.

The plus points of Vanamagan are the film’s casting, songs and Tirru’s splendid cinematography. Jayam Ravi has done a fabulous job as a tribal, his underplay was perfect and he just looked like a trained animal in the first half. He has to be appreciated for choosing different scripts every time, but it would be wise enough if he chooses scripts that are even stronger. Debutante Sayyeshaa does impress with her improbable dancing skills and she does act well too. Other actors including Prakash Raj, Velaa Raamamoorthy, Thambi Ramaiah and Shanmugarajan have done their part fairly. Songs in Harris Jeyaraj’s music are a plus point for Vanamagan, whereas the background score reminds us of many popular OSTs from Hollywood.

‘Vanamagan’ could have been a great entertainer with a better script and making. The film is a bearable one-time watch, if you could withstand the sluggish second half.

‘Horror Comedy’ has been the most irritating genre in the past 4, 5 years. ‘Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae’ is yet another underwhelming film to join the list of the dull, unexciting, monotonous horror comedy films. Point out anything from this film ‘#SBKT‘, that is a cliché for you. The director has been extremely lazy in trying to write a horror movie script and a lot more lethargic in the way he has presented it.

Every single person in the cinema hall knows what he is going to see in this horror comedy film – a haunted house where the protagonist and his family gets into, a flashback about why the spirit is doing this, how the hero gets rid of it. Doesn’t a writer have the responsibility of trying to present it interesting in the least possible way? The film evokes laughter rarely in bits & parts, with a ‘beaten to death’ ghost story formula that we see in franchises like ‘Muni’ & ‘Aranmanai’.

One loses interest in the very first scene which is highly dramatic and tries too hard to be authentic, followed by an amateurish photoshopped title card (which has pictures taken from Google and films like ‘The Grudge’ 😂😂) – yes, that’s the maximum creativity you can expect from this director.

The 2 flashbacks (one in the first half and the other in the second half) were interesting, though it could have been presented in a better way. There are some interesting ideas in the film here and there, and some instantly hilarious comedy scenes (4 or 5 such scenes). Other than that, ‘SBKT’ is filled only with comedy scenes that aren’t helping the script in anyway and horror scenes that are so dumb and highly annoying with cheap thrills. The cheesy romance episode and the kuthu song in the 2nd half that comes out of nowhere, adds to it. Vishal Chandrasekhar who had done a terrific job in ‘Jil Jung Juck’ & ‘Kuttram 23’ has disappointed heavily in both the songs and background score of ‘SBKT’.

One thing that I always wonder is how does actors like Jiiva and investors like Fox Star Studios choose such substandard products. Do they at least read the bounded scripts of these films?

‘Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae’ is an insincerely made humdrum horror comedy! It could be worth an one time watch if you are someone who don’t really worry about mindless entertainers. There are chances that this weary entertainer might also become a hit, and therefore creating more demand for ‘Aranmanai 3’ ‘Muni 4’ or ‘Shivalinga 2’!

‘Dora’ directed by debutante Doss Ramasamy is a horror thriller that follows the routine template, presented in a dreary format. Films with the ‘Spirit in a Car’ plot are nothing new to our audience. Being a revenge drama, the screenplay of ‘Dora’ is something that is beaten to death in Indian cinema. The only suspense that the audience can enjoy in a revenge saga is why a character is yearning for a revenge and how uniquely the revenge scenes are made. Unfortunately, both these things in ‘Dora’ fail miserably to engage the audience. The second half is too flat and wearing, with too many boredom moments. Most of the key moments are highly tiring and clichéd. Over a point of time, the film keeps faltering but does not progress at all.

The idea of interactions with the spirit in the car looks interesting in a few scenes, but that does not last longer. The logic in the revenge scenes has also been taken for granted. The flashback which was supposed to be emotional and impactful, was so dumb and irritating – was there really a need for the ‘child abuse’ portion in this story? Even if the director wanted to show it like ‘a woman seeking justice for another woman’ or if he wanted to make the heart transplantation episode emotional, he could have preferred something else. Also, why was there an unnecessary colouring or grouping of North Indians regarding the burglaries and rapes? Such incidents does happen, but why was that depicted like as if the North Indian Labours are the only one doing it. Another biggest let-down was the dumb scenes that involves the villains, every scene was a face palm moment!

The only saving grace of ‘Dora’ was the screen presence of Nayanthara, the thumping background score by Vivek-Mervin and a few comedy scenes of Thambi Ramaiyah (in the first half alone). Few emotional bonding scenes between the father and daughter in the first half has also been handled neatly. Harish Uthaman has delivered a fair performance, in a character which has a lot of importance in the script until interval but is ultimately squandered towards the end.

‘Dora’ is a lacklustre horror thriller, where Nayanthara is the only hope!

‘Kuttram 23’directed by Arivazhagan is an intriguing crime thriller, based on the Rajesh Kumar novel of the same name. The film’s crux deals with the topic of ‘Artificial Insemination’ and on how does the medical advancements are being used to exploit people in the name of ‘Fertility Hospitals’.

The film which begins as a simple investigative thriller circling around a murder in a church, then follows a chain of mysterious suicides ending up in a very big scam. In today’s world where diseases, treatment and medicines are seen just as a business, ‘Kuttram 23’ is a much needed movie. The film doesn’t speak about this topic alone, but also on the mental pressure put on married couples to give birth to a child as earliest as possible. The director should be highly appreciated for putting forth a question about going behind artificial fertility methods rather than adopting one out of the lakhs of homeless / parentless kids in our country.

Director Arivazhagan has been so intelligent on making a perfectly woven medical thriller, without a mass hero and unnecessary buildups; the narration stays focused till the end. The director has been very clear on what his script needs and what could really make it a better product. Even though the romance episode is nothing new or refreshing, we don’t feel bored or uneasy anywhere. On the flip side, the final moments alone looked so rushed once Vettrimaaran finds who is the accused.

Arun Vijay’s looks as a fit cop, his measured performance and arresting screen presence makes us wonder if this ‘handsome hunk’ had chosen scripts like ‘Thadaiyara Thaakka’ & ‘Kuttram 23’ consistently all through his career, he would have been a top actor undoubtedly. Nevertheless to say, he needs to work a lot more on his reactions and expressions in some simple scenes (say the scene where he knows that his sister in law is conceived). The lead female actor Mahima Nambiar, her acting and expressions are indeed a treat to watch; it is she who makes the romance scenes in this film enjoyable to extent (wish that she does many more memorable roles). Arivazhagan’s films are much known for extraordinary visuals and arousing background score – cinematographer Bhaskaran and music director Vishal Chandrasekhar’s work has contributed to it efficiently.

Director Arivazhagan has done perfect justice to the crime thriller novel of Rajesh Kumar. ‘Kuttram 23’ can be called as the second best of Arivazhagan, next to ‘Eeram’. A highly recommendable thriller!

After the impressive ‘Kathai Thiraikkathai Vasanam Iyakkam’, Director R.Parthiepan is back with his next film ‘Koditta Idangalai Nirappuga’ – a comedy thriller. Unfortunately, the film lacks creativity and good humour (something for which R.Parthiepan is very well known for)!

The whole film becomes a yawning watch, due to the uninteresting screenplay and boring narration. R.Parthiepan seems to have had a lot of confidence on his climax twist, but that is very easily predictable in the first 30 minutes itself. Also, the film does not progress at all until the pre-climax portion and the pace of the film does test the audience’s patience a lot. A song appears for every 30 minutes, adding to the boredom factor.

Both Shanthanu Bhagyaraj & Parvathy Nair does not fit well in the lead roles; despite delivering a convincing performance, Shanthanu does not look perfect in the role of Kevin. Parvathy Nair lets it down totally with her overdone performance, which has been the biggest minus of the film. There are some hardly laughable scenes in R.Parthiepan & Thambi Ramaiah combination and there are a lot of double meaning dialogues that the script does not need at all. Few of those jokes and some forcefully added adult scenes like a ‘B grade film’ might make the audience feel uneasy.

After doing ‘Azhagiya Thamizh Magan’ with Director Bharathan in 2007 which was unsuccessful, ‘Ilaiya Thalapathy’ Vijay has given a chance to Bharathan once again which any hero would hesitate to do. Even many of his fans criticised this decision, but Vijay has done so because of the confidence that he had on the director and his script. Read on to know, if Bharathan has done right justice to the trust that Vijay had on him.

‘Bairavaa’ is a very usual crowd-pleasing entertainer that follows all the tested and tried commercial formula attempting to hold the audience for 160+ minutes. The film revolves around one of the most significant issues in our society – ‘Education being provided as a business, rather than a service’ and the legitimacy of the Educational institution heads. The film speaks a lot in detail on this issue; in fact, no other films have touched this concept at all earlier. Kudos to the team for that. But, unfortunately the presentation has not been that good!

‘Bairavaa’ tries to be a commercial package in a ‘run-of-the-mill’ template of beginning the film with an intro song followed by the regular episodes of a comedy scene followed by an action sequence followed by a romance scene followed by a song which is in loop. The director’s intention seems to be noble to deliver an entertainer that speaks about a ‘much needed’ topic, putting forth a lot of thought provoking questions like ‘There is some eligibility criteria to choose an educational course, there is some eligibility criteria to become a teacher, but why there is no such criteria for people who run educational institutions?’ But, this idea of the director weakens when he falls prey for a lot of compromises (this might have been because the director wanted to give a hit somehow this time) and gives in space for lot of convenient writing and slothful filmmaking.

The first half of ‘Bairavaa’ is fairly engaging despite a couple of boring scenes, the cricket fight scene and the interval portion will be a treat to Vijay fans. The second half was also reasonably good until the foreign song appears, but the last 45 minutes to 1 hour was pathetic (except for 1 or 2 good dialogues). The pre-climax and final episodes wanders pointlessly 😦 Every other scene in the film that involves the villain displays nothing but lazy writing (scenes such as the hero making use of Nitrous Oxide to take revenge of the villain were horrible). There were 3, 4 mass scenes in the film that were really enjoyable and there were many good dialogues all through the film such as ‘Oru policekaaran nermaiyaa sambaadhikkura padahakkathai veettula adikki veikkalaam, Kevalamaa sambaadhikkura panathai padhukki kuda veikka mudiyaathu’. There were many other worthy scenes and dialogues that speaks about the sexual abuses on women and the cunning acts of educational institutions.

The whole film lies on the shoulders of Vijay and he has been the biggest saviour of ‘Bairavaa’ (despite the fact that he is not able to save it over a point of time). His energy, charisma, style, speed in the fight sequences and his powerful screen presence is what saves ‘Bairavaa’ from becoming a disaster. The only issues with Vijay in ‘Bairavaa’ was his awkward wig & rainbow-coloured costumes and the most annoying ‘Jilla’, ‘Suraa’ type dialogue modulation in some scenes that were distressing all-through the film. Keerthi Suresh looked pretty in the film, but nothing much to comment on her performance. After a series of worst roles in films like ‘Thaandavam’, ‘Lingaa’ and ‘Kaththi Sandai’,Jagapathi Babu has got an okayish role in his Tamil cinema career. Following ’Kaashmora’, songs by Santhosh Narayanan turned out to be a big disappointment once again; the background score in the action scenes were thumping, however the BGM in other scenes were par below Santhosh’s standards.

On the whole, ‘Bairavaa’ might be a satisfying watch for Vijay’s fans alone; it is a recommendable commercial outing only if you do not have any issues with lethargic writing. Bharathan has failed to do 100% justice to the trust and confidence that Vijay had on him, it is a missed opportunity once again. Due to solo release and festival holidays, the film might be a hit or super hit; but as a product, ‘Bairavaa’ might not be remembered for a long time. An extra-ordinary plot with some good dialogues that had all potential to become a landmark commercial film like ‘Kaththi’ was let down by a weak screenplay (especially in second half), below average songs and meagre comedy portions!